by K. A. Linde
“I see,” I said, suddenly miserable again.
She loved me, but she didn’t want to even be near me. Miranda had hated my family for no reason, and now, Heidi hated them with good reason. I couldn’t fucking win.
“So, I just…I need time, Landon.”
Hello, time, my old friend.
“Of course,” I found myself saying. “It’s the last thing that I want to give you, but I will if you think it will help.”
She took a stutter step forward, as if she wanted to throw herself into my arms. Then, she seemed to catch herself and stopped. She shrugged out of my jacket and offered it back to me.
“Keep it.”
“I can’t.”
“Please, Heidi. Let me take care of you even if you don’t want to be taken care of.”
I bridged the distance that she had been hesitant to cross before and tugged the jacket closer around her. Her eyes were round with concern at my nearness. But she didn’t pull away.
“You might hate me right now, but I’ll be right here. If you need me, if you think you can move past what happened. I’ll be here, trying to fix what I broke between us.” I leaned forward and pressed my lips to her forehead. “I should have waited for you. I should have probably waited until Jensen or Morgan moved me. There are a ton of things I could have done, but I can’t regret our time together. I never will. You stole my heart completely with that first kiss in the back of Flips, and I don’t even want it back.”
A tear slipped down her cheek, and I gently swiped it off her face.
“No more tears, love.”
“I’m sorry, Landon,” she said in a choked gasp.
Then, she turned away from me and fled through the cemetery, leaving me with nothing but the dead to console my broken heart.
Thirty-Seven
Heidi
“I cannot believe that I let you talk me into this,” I said with a heavy sigh as Julia parked her SUV in the parking lot of the Overton.
“It’ll be fine,” Emery insisted from the passenger seat.
I was seated in the back in the dusty-rose slip dress that Julia had gotten for me. I had no idea why in the hell I was wearing it or why I was about to attend the Wright Charity Benefit.
“I have it on good authority that Landon isn’t even going to be here, and you know most of the company doesn’t even show up. It’s mostly for hoity-toity types with a lot of money to dish out,” Julia reminded me again. “Engineering would never show up for this.”
Well, that was true at least. No one in the department I had worked for had any interest in dressing up and going to some high-class function. But I didn’t understand why Landon wouldn’t be here. It was a Wright event. He was a Wright.
“And why isn’t Landon coming again?” I asked.
Julia and Emery passed a look between them.
“Jensen said he was busy,” Emery said at the same time Julia said, “I think he’s busy.”
They both laughed nervously, and I sat straight up. “He’s going to be here, isn’t he?”
“No!” they both said at once.
“Oh, Jesus, y’all lied to me?” I groaned. “Take me home! I am not dealing with this tonight.”
“How else were we going to get you here?” Emery asked, swiveling to face me. “So…Landon might be here. I don’t actually know. But we can still have a good time either way. I really didn’t want to go without you. Think about how much fun we had at Sutton’s wedding because you dragged me there.”
“You’re both shitty friends.”
“Free champagne. Free dinner. And a reason to wear a fancy dress. Fuck all the Wrights tonight, and let’s just have a good time. What do you think, Heidi?” Julia asked with a smile. Her red hair was flipped to one side, revealing the shaved undercut.
“Okay, but steer me clear of them tonight, or I can’t promise that I won’t flip my shit.” I popped the door open and stepped out with my nude strappy heels.
“Excellent,” Emery said. She hopped out next to me in her floor-length black dress and flats.
Julia had gone with mile-high black heels. She was rocking it with a short black one-shoulder dress that showed off her tattoos. I wouldn’t fuck with her.
“Shall we?” Julia asked with a wicked grin.
I nodded reluctantly and was ushered inside between my two best friends. I knew that they were only trying to be good friends, but I was not looking forward to this.
Wright Construction had fired me, and I had broken up with a member of the Wright family. Now, I was showing up at one of their events. It was pretty ballsy.
The ballroom was decorated to match the casino theme with enormous signs that said, Wright Charity Benefit Casino Night: Double Down for Charity. Roulette tables were set up in the center of the room. Blackjack and poker tables were already crowded with players. The noisiest area of the room was already the craps table. Women blew on the dice before men threw and hoped to win. It was outrageous and genius. All the money spent would be donated to the local Lubbock Children’s Hospital. From the looks of it, it would be a very generous donation indeed.
We angled toward the least crowded bar, and Emery passed out pink champagne.
She held her glass aloft. “To free champagne, best friends, and a girls’ night out.”
“Let’s get fucked up,” Julia added.
I just laughed. “I might have to get fucked up to live through this night.”
“Y’all are ruining the toast!” Emery spat.
“To Emery being shitty at toasts,” Julia said, lifting her glass again.
“I’ll toast to that,” I said.
Emery sighed, and we all clinked our glasses together.
She muttered, “Bitches,” under her breath as we tipped our drinks back.
Julia’s eyes lit up as we approached the craps table. I had only a vague idea of how to play. I had never been a big gambler, but I could see that Julia really knew what she was doing as she placed her bet.
“Done this before?” I asked.
She grinned. “Not for a long time. I prefer blackjack or poker, but craps is pure entertainment. Less thinking.”
I stared at the board with my head spinning. Yeah, less thinking. Sure. But then again, this was probably what people thought about pool, and it all fit for me like a puzzle.
Julia had a crazy stack of money in front of her after only a half hour of playtime. She shrugged her shoulders, as if it didn’t mean anything, and then pocketed her earnings.
“You do know that this is for charity,” Emery said with a laugh. “You’re supposed to lose.”
“Oh, I don’t lose,” Julia said. Then, she frowned and looked uncomfortable. “Um, maybe I shouldn’t play?”
“I was kidding,” Emery said. “Of course you should play.”
We moved over to the blackjack tables where Julia’s eyes were lasered in on the cards popping up. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was actually counting the cards. Could she do that?
“Didn’t expect to see you here,” someone said next to me.
I whipped my head over and found Austin and Patrick standing and grinning at me. Patrick’s date, Mindi, was drinking a dirty martini and staring blankly at the blackjack table in a silver micro-mini dress.
“I didn’t expect to show up,” I admitted.
Patrick smiled back. “Don’t blame you.”
But Austin’s attention was on Julia. “Hey,” he said.
She glanced over at him with indifference. “What do you want?”
“Need a drink?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t have to have a drink to have fun.”
“But what does it hurt?” He tilted his head at the bar and grinned like the cocky bastard he was. “Come walk with me. We should catch up.”
“No. Not with you,” she told him. Her hands were on her hips, and she looked fierce.
I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with her. Emery pinched my arm, and I saw that she looked worried tha
t Austin and Julia were making a scene.
“Maybe just leave her alone,” I said.
“I was simply asking her if I could get her a drink.”
“I don’t want a drink from you,” Julia said.
“Then how about a walk?”
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you either.”
“That’s not what you said last time.”
Julia’s nostrils flared. “You used me and then ignored me, Austin. You’re disgusting, and I’d rather go anywhere than be around you. You’re a user. That’s what you do.”
“Takes one to know one,” he said, his jaw clenched.
Julia slapped the shit out of Austin. His head whipped to the side, and the table we were near silenced. Everyone was staring in our direction now. But Julia didn’t seem to notice. She was shaking with anger.
“Fuck you,” she hissed.
Austin rubbed his jaw, looked back at Julia, and laughed. “However you like it, babe.”
Julia fumed and looked ready to do more than just slap him when Emery intervened and guided Julia away from Austin. But I was staring at him. He was hurt. I was shocked to see anything but the look of a drunk idiot on his face. His tone had been reactionary. He’d been offended, so he’d gone for the jugular, and when that hadn’t worked, he’d made it a joke. It was a defense mechanism.
I stepped forward and got in his face. “If you ever hurt my friend again, I will rip your balls off and put them in a blender. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” he spat.
I stormed after Julia, but she was holed up in the restroom and wouldn’t let Emery or me near her. I knew that feeling. She probably just needed to compose herself before she could go out there again.
God, why did guys have to act like such dicks?
I was standing against the wall, sipping on another glass of champagne that a waiter had brought by, when I saw Landon break away from Austin and Patrick and aim straight toward me. It was like he had a radar to find me standing like a wallflower against the back of the room. Part of me wanted to turn tail and hide in the women’s restroom, but I didn’t. I kept my dignity.
“Hey, you showed,” he said with some surprise in his voice.
“Yeah. I, uh…was told you wouldn’t be here.”
He deflated for a second before a quick recovery. “Of course you were. That sounds right.”
He stared at me for a second too long, like he was drinking me in. I had completely forgotten about my sexy dress and high heels.
“You look incredible,” he told me.
“Thanks.” I bit my lip as I assessed him for the first time.
Because…holy shit! He was in a tuxedo. A tailored tux that fit his body like a glove, and I wanted to slowly take it off. He was clean-shaven where he normally had a bit of scruff, and he must have gotten his hair cut. I really wished that he wasn’t so hot. It would make all of this easier.
“You look nice, too.”
He grinned. “Sorry about Austin. Patrick filled me in.”
“Yeah. Your brother is a grade-A jerk.”
“Unfortunately, that’s how you can tell that he likes her.”
“Well, we’re not on the playground anymore, and mean boys weren’t cute even then.”
Landon held his hands up. “I wasn’t defending his actions. I think what he said was wrong. But this is Austin. He’s a total shit when he likes someone.”
What I wanted to say was, if he wasn’t such a raging alcoholic, then maybe he wouldn’t always find himself in this situation. But I didn’t really know Austin. Definitely not like Landon did. So, I just let it go.
“Do you want to…” Landon trailed off and gestured to the room behind him.
It was full of happy partygoers frivolously spending their money for charity.
“Do you really think that’s smart?”
“I find that I don’t care in the slightest.”
It was nearly impossible to stay aloof to Landon when he was staring down at me so earnestly, begging for a little time with me. Of course, this was what had gotten us into the mess to begin with.
“Yeah. I guess everyone already knows that I was fired because of you,” I said with a sigh.
“Actually, they don’t. Besides your supervisor, Julia, and me, no one on your floor is aware of the reason for your absence.”
“Absence?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone thinks that I’m taking some time off?” I asked in disbelief. “What kind of bullshit is that? Saving your own asses?”
“They were trying to avoid a scandal, Heidi. This could have been damaging to the Wright Construction brand. Far beyond the scope we’d thought about. I, obviously, have been primarily focused on your needs, but I do understand what Jensen and Morgan are dealing with.”
“Right. Fire the expendable girl, cover it up so that you don’t look bad, and then talk about how it could have hurt you and not her,” I spat.
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m trying to get you back!” he said. “I already tried to quit, hoping to get you your job back.”
My eyes rounded. “You did?”
“Yeah. I went straight to Jensen after you broke up with me. I told him I’d figure out my own shit.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said, my voice small.
“Yeah. But he refused. He said that, even if I quit, it wouldn’t guarantee you your job. At least not until they find out who sent the videos and if they were going to issue any more threats. Or at the very least until he could find me another position.”
“Wait, threats? You think the videos were a threat?”
“Don’t you?” he asked. “And it worked, too.”
“You think Miranda was threatening the company?”
“Any threat against a member of the Wright family is a threat against the company. And those videos being leaked strategically show me with an employee. Yeah, that’s a threat.”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I had been in my own bubble all week. Dejected and depressed over the loss of my job. I hadn’t once thought about this like a pool game. Lining up the balls for three moves from now. Seeing where your opponent would move to get you in the right position. It was strategic. And, if Miranda was playing this game, then it absolutely was more than just getting me out of the way.
“Fuck, she is trying for a bigger game, isn’t she?” I whispered. “She wants something more than me out of the way.”
Landon nodded. “Yeah, we’re waiting for her to show her hand, and Jensen is trying to anticipate it. I’m so sorry that you got caught in her crosshairs.”
I glanced over his shoulder and froze. “I think we’re about to find out.”
“Why do you…” Landon started.
Then, he followed my gaze and found Miranda striding straight toward us.
Thirty-Eight
Landon
Miranda’s painted-on cherry-red dress drew eyes from all directions. And it was exactly what she wanted. So, I purposefully looked away from her and searched out Jensen and Morgan in the crowd. They weren’t hard to find, standing at the front of the room with a handful of big donors. As if she could sense me watching her, Morgan nudged Jensen, and he frowned in my direction when he realized Miranda was here.
Showtime.
“Don’t engage her,” I told Heidi. I moved in front of her, so I was shielding her from Miranda.
“Landon, I am not going to sit back and let her assault you. If she’s the bitch who made me lose my job, then I’m going to give her a piece of my mind.”
Oh, Heidi. God, I love you.
“You’ll be giving her what she wants. It’d be better if you let me handle this. She wants to fuck with me anyway. You’re just…in her way.”
“Fuck that,” she muttered.
“I second that, love,” I whispered before Miranda came face-to-face with me.
Miranda stopped only a foot from me and smiled, as if she were truly excited to see me. As if the
last time we had come face-to-face, I hadn’t thrown money at her like a common whore.
“Hello, darling,” Miranda said with a seductive smile. “I’ve missed you.”
“Can’t say the same,” I said.
Her eyes darted behind me to find Heidi standing there. I was sure she was glaring.
Miranda huffed. “I guess Wright has really lowered their standards this year on who they let in to their biggest charity event of the season.”
I gave her a pointed look. “It seems so.”
“Oh, you’re so adorable when you’re upset.”
“Did you do it, Miranda?”
“Do what, pet? I’ve done a lot of things,” she said with a wink.
“Did you take the videos and send them to the company?”
She batted her eyelashes at me. “What videos?”
“You know damn well what videos.”
“I asked you point-blank if you were seeing someone else, Landon. You told me no.” She cocked her head to the side. “I wanted proof for myself.”
“What did you hope to accomplish by this?” I asked. I had to clench my hands into fists to keep them from shaking in anger.
“I thought you would see the error of your ways and come back to me,” Miranda told me.
Heidi snorted behind me and then dissolved into laughter. That did nothing for Miranda. She went from Southern sweet to bitch mode in about two seconds. She sneered at Heidi, and I had to hold myself together.
“That’s not ever going to happen, Miranda,” I told her. “You should turn around and leave here now. Just sign the fucking paperwork and get out of my life with all your fucking manipulative ways and scheming. The fact that you could take those videos and send them to the company to try to get ahead disgusts me.”
“You were the one going behind my back and cheating,” she snapped. “Of course I hired a private investigator to look into my interests!”
“I never cheated on you,” I said as calmly as I could. “But I would never in a million years choose you over Heidi.”
There. I’d laid it all out.
